


pinwheeled

by swallows (toska)



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: (er you don't have to play or watch an lp of firewatch or anything btw), Firewatch au, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life, but like not really?? but yes really??, it's not Firewatch complacent or anything, the wildest past 3 days of fic writing ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 12:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toska/pseuds/swallows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>— Oogami Koga takes a summer job patrolling the mountains and falls in love with the boy on the radio, just a cable car away. (koga/adonis).</p>
            </blockquote>





	pinwheeled

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to angie, reve, and gee!! luv u all, enstar buds — thank you all, for listening to me rambling on twitter and on skype and entertaining my thoughts
> 
> (i say firewatch au, you say glorified junior forest rangers)(either way its really just the 2 of them with their radios out in the wilds)

**pinwheeled**

—koga takes a summer job off into the forest. 61 days is enough time to fall in love. (koga/adonis)

 

.

 

**[day 1]**

 

It started when he accepted a summer job to be stationed for a firewatch. He didn’t have any particular reason not to volunteer. It’s two months, it’s the wilderness and it’s him.

 _Lone Wolf Oogami_.

Was there a more perfect job? One that had him snarling and biting at dumbass teens and adults who don’t respect the environment and make it hotter than it ever should be. No obnoxious upperclassmen around, kept away by the sun and lack of girls. And it allowed him to bring his dog.

Maybe not so much a Lone Wolf, after all, but the companionship of an animal is akin to the companionship of a comrade!

There’s other company too, one that really doesn’t count because it’s just a voice on the radio on the other side of the mountainside. A cable car separates them both. They both man stations together, scouring the lands at different times, just so that one person is always on watch.

It’s not an orthodox system, but it works for them.

His name is Otogari Adonis and he is really a strange guy. He just moved here recently– took this job, as a vacation from his sisters. A foreigner, he tells Koga. Sixteen just like him, with three older sisters and no dogs. A recently enrolled Yumenosaki student, in his 2nd year too. He laughs whenever he hears Leon bark.

Koga laughs too.

 

.

 

**[day 12]**

 

It’s less than two weeks later when his family drives up to pick up his dog and cans of dog food he had stashed.

“Did you rat me out!?” Koga yells harshly into the radio. Then a moments later, when Adonis still hasn’t responded— begrudging and scowling, he adds. “Over.”

“No. Oogami, did it ever cross your mind that your parents would notice that your family’s dog was conveniently missing the day you left?  Over.”

“What!? Leon missed me. _Misses me._ ” Koga frowns not only at the wry amusement in Adonis’s tone, but at the fact that Leon isn’t here. “This is such bullshit. I should have been allowed to keep him here, we’re in the wild. Leon can handle it. Maybe, I should have taken Daikichi instead. He’s a man among men, I’m sure he would’ve thrived here. Akehoshi wouldn't have minded either, that idiot knows about the bond Daikichi and I share, we coulda done it. Just for the month. Over.”

“Don’t steal your friend's dog.”

“Bah! It’s just borrowing! I know I’m a hardened, steel touched lone wolf, but I’m no criminal! Besides, it’s not like Idiot Akehoshi would have minded. Even wolves have honor, y’know.”

“Mind your teeth, then.” Adonis replies, and Koga can imagine a quirk of the lips to go along with the voice.

Koga presses his face against the window of the watchtower and obnoxiously bares his teeth towards Adonis’s general direction,

“You aren’t saying ‘ _over_ ’ anymore,” Adonis points out, quietly.

“Oi! You’re the one who stopped saying it in the first place! Don’t accuse me of this! And it’s not like it means anything? It just some stupid catchphrase, y’know and besides—” Koga pauses for a moment, “ this conversation is far from _over_. We got days ahead of us, still.” Koga grins again, giving a mock salute.

He hears Adonis’s sharp intake of breath.

“Oi! You alright?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’m just sorry about your dog.”

“Don’t be, if anything the little guy lucked out. Back on a cozy bed, fresh food. The only shitty part is that he won't see me.”

“You miss him.”

“No shit. He was a fitting companion for a Lone Wolf such as myself.”

“He was your pack.”

“Lone wolves don’t have packs, idiot. They have dog sized comrades.” Koga says, taken aback by that statement. “And they definitely don’t have humans,” he adds. Just so Adonis doesn’t get any ideas.

Unfortunately for him, Adonis does.

 

.

 

**[day 13]**

 

The conversation picks up the next day, while Koga was making a round exploring around the forest.

“I read somewhere that wolves are weaker without the pack. They need that pack in order to thrive and be stronger.”

“Bull _shiiiiit_.” Koga drawls out, while stepping over a log, and he can hear Adonis letting out a small noise of disagreement through the comm.

“What about your club members in school? Together you guys make a pack right?”

“Idiot. We make a club. A club is not a pack.”

“What about us, then? We’re actually in the woods like—”

“Coworkers, dumbass.”

Adonis isn’t deterred one bit, sounding as nonchalant as ever. “And future schoolmates, too. It’s incredible how connected people can be. Pack bonds are truly amazing right?”

Koga snarls in response.

 

.

 

**[day 18]**

 

“Are you doing summer homework, Oogami?”

Koga rolls his eyes. “Ugh. So the teachers assigned you summer homework, even though you transferred? That’s real shitty of them. It was probably Kunugi who assigned work for you, right? He seems like that kinda guy. He actually is that kinda guy.”

“I have to be up to speed with the class, anyways.”

“This isn’t some academic school, sheesh. Don’t think too hard about it. You’ll be fine, not as fine as me though, after all  other skills matter more in this school, heh.”

 

.

 

**[day 24]**

 

“You aren’t pack, but you are a friend.” Koga admits days later.  “Don’t get any of your weird ideas, idiot. I’m not weak, nor do I need any looking after. You can quit getting people to fill the supply crates with jerky and other snacks, while you’re at it. I can feed myself.”

“I thought you were sick of granola bars and trail mix? And the ultra health foods delivered to you.”

“I am! But I can take care of myself!!! I don’t need to be taken care of like this!”

“Nonsense. You need that meat anyways, it’ll help you get through the day. You’re the one who's doing most of the labor here, not me.” He sounds frustrated about that, Koga notices. Like he’s not doing enough. “I'm a carnivore, too. I'll take care of you. I’ll protect you, till you are big and strong.”

“Not on your life, Otagari.” Koga responds, knowing full well that Adonis won’t listen. He’s too straightforward, that idiot.

 

.

 

**[day 27]**

 

Koga smells the crackle of smoke, before Adonis could even see a wisp of smoke, emerging from the trees. “I’m making my way over there now.” He says. “With any luck I can crush out of the flames, on my own.”

“I’ll still inform the fire brigade”

“Adonis. _We’re the fire brigade_.”

“The park rangers, I mean. We’ve no way of putting it out if it spreads or anything, you know that as well as I do, Oogami.”

Koga grunts in response, before pushing himself up a ledge towards the clearing. He walks for a few more moments, before reaching the clearing. “It’s just an unattended campfire. _Laaame_. I’m going to give these campers the beating of the lifetime. They even litter, too. Defacing my territory is guaranteed to get their heads bitten off.”

Adonis exhales. “Don’t distress the campers, Oogami.”

“They aren’t here to be distressed. I don’t see any of their items either. They probably abandoned this post. Assholes.” Koga stamps out the fire, more forceful than usual due to the agitation.

“I’ll still inform the park officers about this. Can you tell me  what place on the map this? This is still an official park, everyone who is camping here still has to sign in, and sign out too. They probably left today, so we can narrow them down and send them a fine. Did they leave anything behind?”

“Just empty cans of shitty beer.” Koga says; the can crackles loudly in his grip, before he relays the location back to Adonis.  

“We’re lucky that you managed to catch onto it. An unattended campfire, an abandoned campfire is nothing, but trouble.”

“Tell me about it.” Koga snorts, eyeing the now cleaned out clearing.

 

.

 

**[day 36]**

 

There is a kid in front of him. A kid, undoubtedly lost, with scraped knees and wet eyes. “There, ah, there’s a kid here. Lost probably. Looks like he’s eight.”

“I’m twelve!” The kid answers, snot-nosed and bleary eyed.

“Eight.” Koga reaffirms to Adonis, and then looks back at the kid. “So you’re lost, right? Where are your people? If it comes down to it, I’ll track their scent.” The kid stares at Koga, and Koga glares right back. Brat.

When he finally guides the kid back to his group, and heads on out, he connects to Adonis yet again.  

“First finding the source of what could’ve been a potential forest fire, and now guiding a kid back home? You’re becoming a regular hero.”

“ _Shaddup_.”

 

.

 

**[day 38]**

 

“It’s festival season, huh? Still haven’t been able to go to one.” Adonis sounds a bit wistful.

“Ah yeah, you just moved here recently, right? I really hope you have enough sense not to think that I’ll take you. I’d bite your head off for that. But you’re the one who is pretty close to the town. If you hike a bit, you could probably get a decent view of the fireworks at least. You should go.”

At Adonis’s hesitation, Koga snaps.

“Listen, I bust my ass parkouring and shit around this park more than you do. Just go and pick up litter or some crap, if you gotta justify it. Only one of us has gotta be here, right? You go and do the grunt work for once.”

Adonis doesn’t say anything, but Koga can still hear him shifting around, with the radio still on. Getting up. “Oogami.” He says, finally. “Thanks.”

“Whatever.”

 

.

 

**[day 41]**

 

“There’s a herd of deers nearby,” Adonis says. Adonis tends to go out on early runs most morning, sometimes he sees things. “I see baby fawns too. They’re...cute.”

Koga cracks one eye open, picks up the radio and mumbles something unintelligible.

“They are still there, it’s a wonder that they aren’t startled yet.”

At this moment, Koga fell back to sleep and let out a loud snore and sent the flock running.

Adonis was unusually gruff for the rest of the day.

 

.

 

**[day 49]**

 

“It’d be cool if we met each other, right?” Koga said suddenly, one night. “We could scope each other out from the distance. Discuss our hypothetical fight and my inevitable victory- that’ll show you indeed, who is the strongest.”

They decide to meet the next day because there is no use in wasting time. Because the curiosity is there to see a glimpse of the person behind the voice too great to resist, this is no movie— there doesn’t need to be a grand reveal or anything.

There just needs to be him.

 

.

 

**[day 50]**

 

“Do you see me, running towards ya?” Koga asks.There is a figure standing there, behind the fence that helps close off the ravine. Koga can barely make him out, he just seems to glow brighter in contrast to the light outside. Brown and bronzed, the violet shades in his hair tinging more red against the sun.

“Yeah. I see you.” Adonis says, and once Koga reached the fence, he spoke again.

“You didn’t think of bringing a set of binoculars, Oogami? You are the one who said we should ‘ _scope each other out_.’”

“Sh-shut up!! A perfect wolf like me doesn’t need weak man-made tools, when he has 20/20 vision.”

“I can see you squinting, Oogami.” Koga can see Adonis’s shoulders shaking in laughter and flips him off.

“Well, check this!” He yells, continuing to wave his middle finger obscenely.

Adonis lets out a loose laugh again, and Koga relaxes hearing him lightly chortle. “I can hear you without the radios,” he said. “It’s kind of amazing. How loud you are.”

“I have chords of steel, y’know. Chords just as strong, if not stronger as the ones in my guitar. Besides as a wolf, it’s only natural—”

“Ah, yeah. Wolves howl so that their packmates can hear them, right? How considerate, Oogami.”

“Oi! Are you mockin’ me, you bastard!?”

 

.

 

It takes a while for the both of them to leave, both loitering around. Neither of them talk about the hypothetical fight, Koga claimed he would win— in either a hypothetical scenario or a real life one. In all honesty, Koga just forgot about it. It’s not like they talked for ages or as easily as they do via the radio comms, but it was still good. Adonis brought his ocarina and played so beautifully Koga was brought unshed tears to his eyes. Koga yelled at him for not playing it earlier– the entertainment of it would’ve been good. The good thing about the ocarina, is that Adonis can’t use the binoculars to see his tears, Koga thought. Anyways, this was comfortable.

Adonis was comfortable, even a ravine away.

Koga wants to say that he was the one that left first, but he wasn’t.  He stayed there a bit longer, laying on his side a bit further from the fence, watching Adonis’s figure retreat more and more into the distance, until it was obscured by trees.

“You gotta head on ahead, it’s your responsibility to be in the station most of the times anyways. And if there’s another fire burning, my nose’ll probably smell it. So you don’t gotta bother with it. I can handle it.” Koga declared a moment ago, throwing Adonis a haughty look until he left.

Koga stayed, until he couldn’t hear Adonis’s music anymore, before packing up and leaving.

The sound still rings in his ear.

 

.

 

**[day 53]**

 

There’s like this infuriating feeling that continues to crawl inside him, like an itch in his lungs. An itch that he feels in his chest that continues to grow and expand. No, it’s not butterflies, never butterflies— if there is anything with wings fluttering around in his stomach, it’s because he is the wolf and he’s swallowed it whole.  And it’s stupid and implausible because he is the hunter here and to feel like he’s been swallowed whole, not swallowed into a depth of irritation or despair that his upperclassmen manage to bring to the table, but by something else is simply unacceptable.

He’s the wolf, not the woodsman, but he’ll claw his way out of here regardless.

 

.

 

**[day —]**

 

He doesn’t manage to claw himself out.

 

.

 

**[day 61]**

 

Days pass, and suddenly Koga is shoving everything he owns into his two bags. The cabin that he called home, devoid of everything that made it his own.“I’ll meet you by the cable car.” Adonis says.

“Sounds good. But this isn’t like an escort or anything,” Koga reminds him. “It’s not like I need protection or anything like that. It’s convenience.”

“If anything, it’s quick and easy navigation provided by me,” Adonis offers.

“Yeah, that.” Koga agrees, as he heads out the door. The trek to the cable car is a lot like that first time, he went there and saw Adonis. It’s different this time, though. Stepping out to be on the same side as him.

To be next to him.

 

.

 

“I like you, Oogami. I like you, a lot.”

Adonis tells him when he steps out of the cable car, looking straight at him in the eyes. Koga’s eyes widen in surprise and he bites his bottom lip, so he doesn’t end up looking away, and tries to match Adonis’s gaze.

“You really piss me off, y’know? The amount of cheesy things that you cause to come out of my mouth! Disgusting!!! I really hate cheesy lines like that! Especially in a cheesy scenario like this too! The only logical explanation comes from the fact that I spend all this time with you! I’m getting all your lame mannerisms and none of your cool ocarina skills. Like what kind of stupid payoff is this!? At least you are learning how to be a man!” The words come out garbled and stupid, blurted out carelessly; he’s a mess now. Thanks to this stupid thing pecking away in his chest. It pecks faster and faster at his heart. Koga can’t tell if it’s chipping it away anymore, like a woodpecker, going _patterpatterpatter_ , non-stop. Or fluttering intensely, wings hitting him not at all keeping in sync with his heart. How annoying.

“If anything, I’m learning how to be a wolf.”

Koga’s breath hitches.

“Sh-shut up!!”

There is this thing about Otogari Adonis, that is ten times worse when you see him in person, even for the first, er, second time. He says the cheesiest lines, the kind of lines his senpais let out with theatrics and obnoxious hugs and poses and dangerous “ _I’ll make your life hell_ ” smiles, but he says them earnestly, seriously like he actually believes them. Like he actually believes in you, too, and it’s hard not to believe him. And Koga— well, Koga wasn’t prepared for that.

Wasn’t prepared about the honesty, and the genuine concern wrapped neatly in an even voice. Wasn’t prepared for the hand that’s making it’s way to reach out for him. And yeah, maybe his senpais are honest when they recite those stupid lines his way, but it’s not the same. It wasn’t like this. He’s always been the one dragged into things (mainly by that no good senpai of his). No one’s asked to be pack, before.

Be part of his pack.

 _Fuck_. Now he’s being cheesy.

Maybe he’s been cheesy all along, or maybe he should stop that train of thought before he punches a tree.

Koga licks his lips absentmindedly and stares back at the violet haired teen. He adjusts his backpack and takes a step towards him.

“Koga. I mean it.” Adonis tries again, there’s more hesitance in voice, but his gaze hasn’t wavered. “I like you.”

His cheeks are flushed with warmth; Koga is sure his cheeks are the same, and when he marches there and takes Adonis’s hand— he can feel his face grow more hot. “Let’s go. We have a bus to catch. Don’t think too hard about this, it’s for convenience's sake.” When Koga’s grip on his hand tightens, Adonis finally smiles.

 

.

 

On their bus ride back, their hands are still connected. “Is it still for convenience's sake?” Adonis asks, looking at their fingers laced together.

“No.” Koga says and kisses him.

 

.

 

**epilogue**

 

“ _Ya Amar_. We practically spent our first two weeks saying “over” back and forth via the radio like we were in a bad movie. You don’t have to act cool in front of me. Even on a first date.”

Koga huffs, trying to ignore the warmth rising in his cheeks and glances at him. “Ha ha. Y’know, sometimes I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m always cool.”

“Sure, sure.” Adonis says dismissively, before looking back down at him. He’s smiling now, fondly. “Just another thing about you I have to protect, then.”

Koga squawks in protest — _like fuck you Otagari_ , _his image does_ **_not_ ** _need protection_ — and grips Adonis’s hand tighter, while throwing him a glare. It’s not a very intimidating glare, with Koga biting the inside of his cheek to stop smiling, but it’s hard, hard to not smile when Adonis is here and not on the radio— a cable car away.

Koga continues to smile, teeth too sharp as usual. “Bastard,” he declares, clearing his throat, voice gruff and affectionate, before stealing a sip from Adonis’s drink with his free hand. “C’mon. We got shit to do, ducks to feed. Let’s roll.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> \+ im sorry i butchered the japanese school year bc those 4 weeks of break just seemed like a very short time to really really like someone to me and didn't fit in with the pacing i had in mind for the fic anyways  
> +61 days... june + july, so yeah..  
> \+ a nod to reve and angie with the "ducks to feed" line bc i 110% agree that koga would be a cheap date, but it'll all be v cute and endearing somehow?? and probably lame. g od (anyways credit goes to them for that) ngl in that date- he probably bites the straw when drinking adonis's drink and doesn't even realize he's doing it. (unrelated side note that koga seems like the type to chew ice cubes)(me 2 bud)  
> \+ this could be taking place in idol-verse??? i didn't go into depth with the school, so it's up to u kiddos  
> \+ this fluffball of a fic happened not even 2 days into the fandom, im still pretty new with characterization and characters (took a lot more liberties with adonis tbh and has been a slow work of progress ever since) (there really isn't much on adonis?? he is just this very gentle quiet boy, who is more of a predator than koga will ever be and i adore him)  
> \+ YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT OOGAMI KOGA WOULDN'T TRY TO SMUGGLE HIS DOG ALONG WITH HIM ON A TRIP WHERE HE'S GONNA BE ONE WITH NATURE - YOU JUST CAN'T and good thing the pup was taken back home bc can you imagine the rescue that's gonna end up happening when he decides to fling his corgi off somewhere)  
> \+ really when i said firewatch au i really meant that they are just junior forest rangers for the summer who have somehow garnered a lot more responsibility and chiaki is somewhat envious of the title and probably signs up for it for the next summer, also everything i know about national parks and stuff i learned from firewatch  
> +kogadonis i will always love u for being my first enstars ship, i love it and i love adonis who wants to protect and koga who will never lay himself out to be that vulnerable, but still will offer a hand to him and idk adonis who always gets on koga's level is just so, so good to me and i live for koga being comfortable enough to extend his hand towards them and for there to truly be trust and pack.  
> \+ i hope u all enjoyed, and i hope my characterization was ok? esp for adonis. im still pretty new, i normally don't write this quickly for a fandom anyways so yeah  
> +also ace attorney reference heyoo  
> +i hope you all love koga "lone wolves don't have— they have dog sized comrades" oogami as much as i do, and i hope u all love adonis too  
> \+ recently learned that adonis was half-arab and im yelling bc hell yes!!! enstars i love u for this so much! (in the end, i had adonis refer to koga as "ya amar" which means "like the moon" side note that im not an arabic speaker or anything so i don't ever wanna overstep- quranic arabic is what im most familiar with it. so if you can confirm, that'd be top. i was also debating with adonis calling koga "habibi" i think he'd use both. (i just really like ya amar for koga bc...moon...wolves are related to the moon...)(i've been looking at endearments all day- so if there are grammar errors for this please inform me and thank you! (also i like to headcanon that adonis would call his underclassmen "habibi" it can be used affectionately in a friendship way, right? so koga needs like that one special name ok, but he also gets called habibi.)  
> +the boy's name is adonis...he's probably gonna be a romantic let me live  
> \+ OTHER THINGS (like actual fic plot related things): at one point i wrote [day —] this is not a typo, it's just an indiscriminate day??? i also really hope the passage of time flowed well  
> \+ also lmao bc i still managed to stick a festival moment in there!! adonis was supposed to play his ocarina while looking at the fireworks but that is just. too cheesy for both koga and me. i could not.  
> \+ since this whole thing was in koga's pov- i wanted to still try and convey things about koga that adonis could have ended up liking?? idk if that makes sense. like i wanted to have scenes, where you could see how adonis ends up liking koga- even though, those scenes might not really affect koga?? THIS IS WEIRD TO EXPLAIN BUT I HOPE Y'ALL GET ME.  
> \+ koga referring to adonis by his last name when he is annoyed is also my jam, bc im a sucker for characters calling each other by their last name?? it just flows a lot better sometimes  
> \+ obligator forest fire scene being crushed out early bc i really didn't want any drama or anything too intense? a peaceful summer for both boys  
> \+ also i didn't put in phones- they probably have no cell phone signal there  
> +i actually went over the word limit for the end notes WHOOPS sorry guys u won't be getting extra kogadonis headcanons here  
> +but um yeah. this is all i've got. hope you guys enjoyed!!!


End file.
